This invention relates generally to wire frame structures of the type used by commercial and home gardeners, as well as to wire fences. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a plastic clip that is employed to quickly and easily attach a plastic or fabric material to those wire frame structures or fences.
Wire frame structures are in widespread use by commercial growers and by the home garden industry for protecting vegetable and flower plants from the potentially destructive forces of nature, such as sun, shade, wind, hail, and frost. They are also widely used to provide a "hot house" environment for early season growing of plants, by supporting a plastic bag or one of several versatile garden fabrics in a position over or surrounding the plants.
Wire fences are also in widespread use by the building industry to fence construction sites for security and by homeowners to fence yard areas and property lines. These wire fences, sometimes referred to as chain link fences, do not afford any degree of privacy. While plastic and fabric materials exist for use in adding privacy to wire fences, there is no known satisfactory method for attaching them using a plastic clip.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an apparatus and method for attaching plastic or fabric materials to wire frame garden structures to afford protection from the elements of nature for plants within the wire frame structures. It would also be advantageous to employ the same apparatus and method for attaching plastic or fabric privacy materials to conventional wire fences.
In accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plastic clip is employed to attach plastic or fabric materials to wire frame garden structures, as well as to wire fences. Each of the clips is formed in the general shape of a cylindrical shell, open at one end and closed at the other end, a peripheral wall of the shell having a pair of diametrically opposed slots formed longitudinally therein. Each of the slots is tapered and terminates at an interior end thereof in a circular notch portion having a diameter slightly larger than the width of the tapered slot at its narrowest point. This configuration allows the plastic clip to be snapped into place over the plastic or fabric material and onto a wire member of the wire frame structure or wire fence. At such time as it is desired to remove the installed plastic or fabric material, each of the plastic clips holding it in place may be quickly and easily unsnapped from the wire member to which it was previously attached.